The battle royale raged across Magnolia's streets, but in the quieter district near the old fountain, two women found themselves face to face.
Erza Scarlet stood in her Heart Kreuz Armor, dozens of swords floating around her in perfect formation. Her Lucario crouched beside her, muscles tense and ready to strike. Across the cobblestone plaza, Ultear Milkovich moved like liquid shadow, her Kirlia floating gracefully at her shoulder.
"Well, well," Ultear purred, her Arc of Time magic already beginning to shimmer around her fingers. "If it isn't Erza. This should be interesting."
Erza's expression remained calm. "Ultear."
Without warning Ultear's hand swept forward. "Arc of Time!"
The cobblestones beneath Erza's feet began to age rapidly, crumbling into dust. Erza leaped backward, her swords spinning to intercept the follow-up attack she knew was coming.
She was right. Ultear's magic lashed out again, aging three of Erza's summoned blades until they rusted and shattered mid-flight.
"Impressive," Erza admitted, requipping into her Flight Armor. "But I've faced time magic before."
She launched forward, moving with incredible speed. Her remaining swords struck from multiple angles while her Lucario charged from the side.
"Force Palm!" Erza commanded.
But Ultear was ready. Years of training with Aiden had honed her reflexes to a razor's edge. She twisted away from the Lucario's strike while simultaneously aging the ground beneath it, causing the Fighting-type to stumble.
"Too slow," Ultear laughed, her Kirlia's psychic energy forming a barrier that deflected Erza's sword strikes. "Aiden taught us better than that."
Erza's eyes narrowed. She requipped again, this time into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. Dozens more swords materialized around her.
"Then let's see how you handle this. Trinity Sword!"
Three massive blades formed from pure magical energy, each one the size of a building. They crashed down toward Ultear with devastating force.
Ultear's response was swift and elegant. "Arc of Time: Restoration!"
The destroyed plaza around them suddenly reversed its damage, stones flying back into place and creating a protective barrier that absorbed the brunt of Erza's attack. At the same time, she aged the very air around Erza's swords, causing them to rust and weaken.
"What?" Erza gasped as half her weapons crumbled to nothing.
"Time magic isn't just about aging things. It's about understanding cause and effect."
She gestured, and suddenly Erza's armor began to show signs of wear. Not aging exactly, but as if years of battles were catching up to it all at once.
Erza felt the weight of her equipment increasing as metal fatigue set in. Her movements slowed.
"Arc of Time: Flash Forward!"
Ultear accelerated her own time, moving so fast she seemed to blur. Her strikes came from everywhere at once—kicks that landed before Erza could react, magical blasts that hit their target while Erza was still processing the threat.
Erza tried to keep up, requipping rapidly between different armors, but each change took precious milliseconds that Ultear exploited ruthlessly.
"Lightning Empress Armor!" Erza called out, electricity crackling around her.
"Too late," Ultear smirked, already behind her. "Arc of Time: Reversal!"
The lightning magic reversed its flow, striking Erza instead of her target. The scarlet-haired mage cried out as her own power turned against her.
She hit the ground hard, her armor smoking. Her Lucario rushed to her side, but Ultear's Kirlia held it back with psychic energy.
"You're strong, Erza," Ultear said, standing over her opponent. "But I'm stronger."
Erza struggled to her feet, breathing hard. Every armor she'd tried had been countered. Every strategy had been anticipated.
"Is this it?" Ultear asked, almost disappointed.
That's when something changed in Erza's eyes.
She looked up at Aiden, watching from the guild hall balcony with that knowing smile. Then her hand moved to the ring he'd given her years ago.
The ring that contained armor she'd never used. Armor too precious, too powerful for ordinary battles.
"No," Erza said quietly, magic energy beginning to surge around her. "This is just the beginning."
"What are you—" Ultear started to ask.
"Requip."
The magic circle that formed beneath Erza was different. Larger. More complex. Golden light erupted skyward as she accessed her ring's storage for the first time in combat.
"Armor of the Infinite Sky!"
The transformation was breathtaking. Erza's new armor was unlike anything anyone had seen before—ethereal plates that seemed to be made of crystallized starlight, flowing cape that moved like liquid midnight, and a sword that hummed with cosmic energy.
Ultear's eyes widened. "What is that?"
"A gift," Erza said, her voice carrying new power, "from someone who believes in pushing past our limits."
The battle that followed was no longer one-sided.
Erza moved with speed that matched Ultear's time acceleration. When Ultear tried to age her new armor, it simply absorbed the temporal energy and grew stronger. The Armor of the Infinite Sky was designed to adapt, to overcome any obstacle through continuous evolution.
"Impossible!" Ultear snarled, dodging a sword strike that left a crater in the plaza. "Time magic can age anything!"
"Not everything," Erza replied calmly, pressing her advantage. "Some things grow stronger with time."
She was right. The armor seemed to learn from each attack, becoming more resistant to Ultear's magic with every exchange. Within minutes, Ultear's time manipulation was barely slowing Erza down.
"Star Blade: Constellation Crash!"
Erza's sword multiplied into dozens of starlight copies, each one striking with the force of a meteor. Ultear managed to dodge most of them, but several connected, sending her skidding across the plaza.
"How?" Ultear gasped, struggling to stand. "I had you beat!"
Erza landed gracefully, her new armor gleaming. "You did. Your training with Aiden made you incredibly strong. But Aiden didn't just train us in combat."
She looked up at the guild hall where their mentor watched. "He taught us that true strength comes from the bonds we forge. The trust we place in others. The gifts we give and receive."
Ultear followed her gaze, understanding dawning in her eyes.
"This armor," Erza continued, "represents years of his faith in me. His belief that I could become stronger. That's a power no magic can age or diminish."
Ultear's shoulders sagged. "So I lose."
"No," Erza said firmly, extending her hand. "We both win. You pushed me to use power I didn't even know I had. And I learned that even with all Aiden's gifts, the real strength still has to come from within."
Ultear looked at the offered hand for a long moment. Then, with a rueful smile, she took it.
"Aiden planned this, didn't he?" she said as Erza helped her up.
"Probably," Erza admitted with a small smile. "He has a talent for teaching lessons we don't realize we need to learn."
Above them, Aiden's laughter carried on the wind as the battle royale continued to rage around Magnolia. But in this quiet plaza, two of Fairy Tail's strongest had discovered something more valuable than victory.
They had found respect.
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Across the city, near Magnolia's clock tower, the very air itself trembled with power.
Lightning didn't just crackle around Laxus Dreyar—it worshipped him. Bolts of pure electricity danced through the atmosphere like living creatures answering their master's call. His Pikachu rode his shoulder, but even the electric mouse looked small compared to the storm brewing around its trainer.
But it wasn't just lightning magic anymore.
Dragon scales flickered along Laxus's arms—the mark of a Dragon God Slayer. And deeper still, the power of the Rumble Rumble Fruit flowed through his veins, giving him complete dominion over electricity itself.
He was no longer just a mage.
He was a force of nature.
Below him, Jellal Fernandes floated in mid-air, the Star Magic Grimoire blazing in his hands. His Metang's metallic body reflected the cosmic light streaming from its trainer, data processing at superhuman speeds as it calculated their odds.
The numbers weren't good.
To any observer watching from the magical barriers, they looked evenly matched. Lightning met starlight in brilliant explosions that painted the evening sky in gold and blue. Each clash sent shockwaves through the surrounding buildings, forcing civilians to back away even further.
But Jellal knew the truth.
He could see it in how Laxus stood—feet planted casually, one hand in his pocket. In how his attacks came measured and controlled, never using his full strength. In that infuriating smile that never left his face.
Laxus wasn't even trying.
"Grand Chariot!" Jellal called out desperately, seven massive pillars of starlight erupting from his grimoire to strike from every angle.
Laxus didn't even move his feet.
"Lightning Dragon God's Roar."
The beam that erupted from his mouth wasn't golden like normal Dragon Slayer magic. It was pure white—the color of divine lightning, electricity given form and fury. It tore through all seven star pillars like they were made of paper, the excess energy carving a trench through the hillside behind Jellal.
'Of all Aiden's students', Jellal thought as he barely dodged the devastating attack, Laxus was the first. The longest trained. The most powerful.
Dragon God Slayer magic. The power to kill beings that considered themselves divine.
The Rumble Rumble Fruit. Complete mastery over one of nature's most destructive forces.
And underneath it all, the foundation Aiden had built—a power so vast that calling Laxus the strongest in the guild after Aiden and Gildarts felt like an insult to what he'd become.
"Meteor!" Jellal shot forward like a golden comet, desperation driving him to move faster than he ever had before.
"Constellation Prison!"
This time he didn't just create binding chains. He wove an entire cage of starlight around Laxus, each bar infused with magic designed to contain even the most powerful opponents.
For one precious moment, the cage held.
Then Laxus opened his eyes, and Jellal saw something that made his blood freeze.
They glowed with electric power, but beneath that was something older. Something that spoke of dragons and gods and powers that shouldn't exist in mortal hands.
"Logia Form: Lightning Elemental."
Laxus's body didn't just become electricity—he became the concept of lightning itself. The star cage passed through him harmlessly as he flowed between the bars like liquid death.
He rematerialized behind Jellal, but this time he wasn't gentle.
"Dragon God's Claw."
His hand, wreathed in divine lightning and shaped like a dragon's talon, struck Jellal in the back. The impact sent the blue-haired mage plummeting toward the earth like a falling star, his grimoire spinning wildly through the air.
Jellal hit the clock tower's roof hard enough to crack the stone, pain lancing through his entire body. Above him, Laxus descended slowly, electricity dancing around him like a crown.
I'm going to lose, the realization crashed over him like a wave. Even with everything Aiden taught me. Even with this grimoire. Even giving everything I have...
But instead of despair, memories flooded his mind.
The Tower of Heaven. Simon and Erza screaming as the cultists dragged him away. Sho crying in the darkness. The hopelessness that had consumed them all until…
"Enuma Elish."
Aiden's voice, calm and terrible, as he'd torn through the tower like it was made of tissue paper. The first time Jellal had ever seen what true strength looked like.
The years since then. Training at Fairy Tail. Learning that magic wasn't just about power—it was about protecting what mattered. Watching his friends grow strong and happy under Aiden's guidance.
Finding a family worth dying for.
I want to prove myself, fire ignited in Jellal's chest despite the pain. I want to show that the boy from the tower can walk among gods.
"Star Magic: Celestial Convergence!"
The grimoire in his hands didn't just blaze with light—it screamed with power. Every page turned at once, and suddenly the night sky itself began to change. The stars above Magnolia burned brighter, their ancient light flowing down in visible streams that wrapped around Jellal's broken body.
He rose into the air, no longer just a man with a book. He was becoming something else—a conduit for the cosmos itself.
"Now that's more like it," Laxus said, and for the first time, his voice carried genuine respect. "Show me what the stars taught you, Jellal."
"Abyss Break: Stellar Annihilation!"
This wasn't the Abyss Break anyone had seen before. The Star Magic Grimoire had amplified it beyond recognition, transforming it into an attack that drew power from dying stars across the galaxy. The beam that erupted from Jellal's hands carried the death screams of distant suns, hot enough to melt mountains and bright enough to blind gods.
Laxus's lazy smile finally faded.
"Dragon God's Secret Art: Heaven's Judgment!"
He raised both hands skyward, and the storm clouds above Magnolia split apart. Divine lightning—not the earthly kind, but the electricity that danced between worlds—cascaded down in a pillar of pure destruction.
The collision between stellar death and divine lightning tore reality apart.
The explosion was visible from three countries away. The shock wave shattered every window in Magnolia and sent most of the other combatants to their knees. When the light finally faded, a crater stretched from the clock tower to the forest beyond the city limits.
At the center, two figures lay motionless.
Slowly, painfully, Laxus pushed himself to his feet. His coat was destroyed, burns covered his arms, and blood trickled from a cut along his jaw. For the first time in years, he looked... human.
Jellal remained on the ground, his grimoire closed beside him, but his eyes were open and he was smiling.
"Did I..." he coughed, tasting blood. "Did I actually hurt you?"
Laxus touched the cut on his face, staring at the crimson on his fingers with something like wonder. "Hurt me? You nearly killed me."
He walked over and knelt beside Jellal, genuine admiration in his voice. "That last attack... I had to use everything I had just to survive it."
"Everything?" Jellal laughed weakly.
"Well," Laxus grinned, offering his hand. "Maybe eighty percent. But that's more than I've used in years."
As Laxus pulled him to his feet, Jellal felt tears in his eyes—not from pain, but from something deeper.
Pride. Belonging. The knowledge that he'd stood toe-to-toe with a monster and emerged with his dignity intact.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"For what?"
"For not holding back at the end. For fighting me like I was worthy of it."
Laxus studied his face for a long moment, then clapped him on the shoulder. "You are worthy of it, Jellal. That attack proved you belong with the strongest in Fairy Tail."
He paused, then added with a smirk, "Just don't get cocky about it. I've still got plenty left in the tank."
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